An Economic Perspective of Religious Organizations Abstract Essay

An Economic Perspective of Religious Organizations Abstract In the process of studying religions, we often overlook the secular aspects of religious organizations. This paper examines the basic flows of money in different spiritual organizations, and attempts to correlate the types of income with the structure of the priestly hierarchy. This analysis is by no means comprehensive. In the end, more questions are raised than are answered. Introduction For all the mythological and sociological components of religion, religious organizations operate under the same restrictions as any other secular establishment. Religious organizations can be characterized as multi-generational institutions with distinct rights, privileges, and liabilities; the essential definition of a corporation. While the sources of income and the liabilities are substantially different from a standard company, an economic analysis of religious behavior allows us to compare religions in certain areas. The goal of this paper is to ignore the philosophy, and view religion with a purely economic perspective1. In this analysis of religious organizations, I will attempt to identify the sources of revenue for different religious organizations, explain different hierarchies, and attempt to draw some conclusions of the interactions of money and organization. This topic is expansive, and as such I will often simplify or identify further fields of research, rather than getting too off topic. In the end, I hope to provide a basic understanding of the complexities of religious finance. Revenue The single most important economic means of distinguishing religions is through the source of money. Adam Smith, in his seminal work The Wealth o... ...pter inspired the idea of this paper. Raines, John. Marx on Religion. Temple Univ. Press. 2002 -A primer on Marx’s various writings on religion; a rather condensed work. Marx had some rather complex ideas, and his writing is given to misleading quotes, which is why I do not quote his work. (Author Unknown) â€Å"Evaluation the Evidence: Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies.† American Sociological Review 54 1989 -Sociology papers are difficult for an outsider to read (to say the least), but this paper deals with the topic in a sufficiently interesting manner to merit its mention. Hardin, Russell. "The Economics of Religious Belief and Practice" Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics. 1997. -A basic analysis of (western) religions and their finances. Useful article, and written in a language that I can understand (thanks to a minor in economics).

Apple Inc: Analysis of Financial Statement Essay

I chose Apple for my course project mainly based on the fact that they release all their records to the public and they have excellent accounting practices. Their paper work is easy to read and follow and based on their records they have an endless amount of revenue in the billions. As we have discussed about Apple in class I was very intrigued how they looked in the books on a specific level of detail and this course project was the perfect way to take initiative to find out just how their numbers actually add up answering the following questions. 1. What amount of deferred tax assets or deferred tax liabilities are on the two most recent years on the balance sheet? What gives rise to these deferred taxes? What information is disclosed in the footnotes related to deferred taxes? Please define a deferred tax asset and deferred tax liability. At year end September 24 2011 the balance sheet shows following amount of deferred tax assets and liabilities: Deferred tax asset is arising due to deductible temporary differences, tax losses, and tax credits of $3.2Billion and deferred tax liabilities of $9.2Billion. Deferred revenue is recorded when the company receives payments of their products in advance or for the performance of services. It includes amount for unspecified and specified software upgrade rights and non-software services that are attached to the products of the company. It is disclosed in the footnotes that Deferred tax assets and liabilities shows the effects of tax losses, credits, and the future income tax effects of temporary differences between the consolidated financial statement carrying amounts of current assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and are measured using en-acted tax rates that apply to their taxable income in the years in which these temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. Footnotes also states that company records a valuation allowance in order to reduce the def erred tax asset to the amount it thinks cannot be realized. Deferred tax asset: Deferred tax asset is defined as reduction in company’s future taxes as the company has already paid for these taxes in past. It is like a prepaid tax. It is used to reduce later period’s income taxes. Deferred tax liability: Deferred tax liability is defined as liability that the company owes but they don’t have to pay it in the current time but will be due in some future time. This often results due to difference in tax regulations and accounting practices. 2. What temporary and permanent differences does the company disclose in its footnotes? What are some other examples of temporary and permanent differences? Operating loss to carry forward /carry forward: The company had unrecognized tax benefits of 1.4 billion Guidelines for carry forwards and carrybacks: Tax law allows corporation to carry forward loss up to 20 years and they can carryback tax losses only up to 2 years. A carry forward can be used to reduce future income and in the end reducing future tax payments. 4. Does the company have a defined benefit or defined contribution plan? What are the key elements of the plan discussed in the footnotes? What amounts on the balance sheet relate to this plan? What are the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution plans? Employee contribution plan: The key element discuss in the footnotes is the rate to which the contribution is made and matching of contribution by company itself. The Company’s matching contributions to the Savings Plan were $90 million, $72 million and $59 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Difference between Benefit and contribution plan: In contribution the employer put certain fixed percentage of employees to the fund and invest it no loss or gain is recognized because its liability is of contributing that amount only. However in benefit plan the company promised to pay certain amount to employees due to which it has to recognize gain or losses and liability. 5. What are the earnings-per-share amounts disclosed on the income statement for the most recent year? What dilutive securities are discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other examples of dilutive securities. How do these impact earnings per share? Diluted EPS: Effect on EPS of Dilutive: Dilutive EPS is calculated due to the Debt securities company issued to which company offers for conversion from debt security to Company shares. If converted, the denominator will increase and hence EPS will decrease. Other types of dilutive shares: The other types of diluted shares are warrants and share option. Bonus shares may also dilute EPS. 6. What kind of share-based compensation does the company have? What was the compensation expense for the two most recent years? What are the key elements of this plan discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other types of share-based compensation. Share based Payments The Company has two kind of share based compensation one is that the company receives employees’ service in exchange of equity instrument, or of recognizing liabilities that are based on the fair value of the company stock or may be settled through issuance. The elements: The key element in the foot note is the difference between restricted stock Unit and stock option plan. In RSU’s the compensation cost is measured by closing fair value of stock at grant date. However in stock option the valuation at grant date is done through Black-Scholes-Merton (â€Å"BSM†) option-pricing model. Other types of compensation: The other types of compensation is that employees to whom compensation is paid is left with the choice whether to take cash settled i.e. by incurring liabilities or by equity settlements. 7. Does the company use the direct or indirect cash flow presentation method? What is the difference between these two methods? How does the cash flow statement agree to the other financial statements? APPLE INC. uses indirect method of cash flow. The main difference in direct and indirect method is of operating activities section. In direct method of cash flow there is a sum of all check and deposits in a particular category whereas in indirect method of cash flow we have to make adjustments in order to arrive at net cash flow from operating activities. Net cash balance calculated in the cash flow statement agrees with cash balance in the balance sheet. 8. What investing and financing activities does the company have? What are some other examples of investing and financing activities? Company has following investing activities: Purchases of marketable securities, Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities, Proceeds from sales of marketable securities, Payments made in connection with business acquisitions, net of cash acquired Payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment and Payments for acquisition of intangible assets. Other examples of investing activities are purchase/sale of long term investments and purchase/sale of debt or equity securities of other companies. Financing activities of company: Proceeds from issuance of common stock, Excess tax benefits from equity awards and Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards. Other examples of financing activities are sale of equity securities, issuance of bonds and notes, dividend paid and redeem long term debt. 9. What non-cash transactions does the company have on its cash flow statement? What are some other examples of non-cash transactions? Following are the non cash transactions of the company on its cash flow statement: $(000) Depreciation, amortization and accretion 1,814 Share-based compensation expense 1,168 Deferred income tax expense 2,868 Other non cash-transaction examples are provisions, unrealized foreign currency gains/losses and minority interests. Conclusion: This course project shows evidence in Apple’s strict guidelines and how they run their business. Comparing the numbers they have posted on their site I’m able to physically see how certain liabilities and Assets are moved and balanced in different quarters throughout the year. Seeing this also allows me to understand on how they operate in a bigger scale from a bird’s eye view. Since they are such a large company they do not hesitate to report all their taxes and pay the full amount without using shortcuts that most smaller companies are able to get away with. Based on the report from 2011 and 2010 Apple prioritizes their tax expenses with alacrity and with their triple checked system it truly leaves no room for error in their accounting department. By looking into their books, I can conclude that this company is in strong standing and that they will be around for a long time maybe for another 100 years. Most companies don’t have that kind of net value since they fall into category of accrued debt paying off an impossible bill of benefits to their employees. Works Cited: http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-11-282113&CIK=320193 http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-balance-sheet?symbol=AAPL& http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/IncomeStatement.jsp?tkr=aapl&period=qtr http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/Ratios.jsp?tkr=aapl

Is Jesus The Son Of God - 1596 Words

John 14: 6 says â€Å"I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me†. Jesus’ ministry was based off of this principle. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was raised from the dead, and you confess you have sinned, then you are a Christian according to Jesus and his father God. That is what Jesus taught when he was alive on Earth. His ministry started Christianity, influencing so many people around the world. With his ministry came a lot of controversy, over his teachings and the way he--to some people--spoke very wrongly about the church and God. Also, many people followed him for many reasons. Along with that, Jesus whole ministry comes to a close after he rose from the dead. His†¦show more content†¦The Pharisees heard of this and publicly challenged Jesus, accusing him of having the power of Satan. He defended his actions with a parable, then questioned their logic and told them such thinking deni ed the power of God, which only further hardened their resolve to work against him. Jesus was challenged many times but, he always got the better side of the argument. If Jesus failed an argument his ministry may have been crushed because the Pharisees and the teachers of the law would have spread the news that Jesus was a fraud. Another example of a threat to Jesus’ ministry is, â€Å"It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, â€Å"How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.† Jesus replied, â€Å"I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The

Film Critique of All the Presidents Men Essay - 1497 Words

I.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Summary Opening in theaters around the United States in April of 1976, All the President’s Men paints quite an accurate account of American journalism yet at the same time is a suspenseful adventure that manages to entertain and inform its viewers. Vincent Canby, a reviewer for the New York Times called the movie, â€Å"an unequivocal smash-hit—the thinking man’s Jaws.† Because the film is written from the perspective of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the movie works as a blockbuster, and not just a documentary. The script was written in such a way that the historical information (dates, names, and events) is recorded, but does not confuse and interfere with the message the director is trying to portray.†¦show more content†¦The ending is history. Two unknown and inexperienced reporters uncover one of the largest scandals of the decade because of their hunger for more details and the ambition with which they attacked the story. II.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Critical Analysis a.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;What is the basic plot of the film? i.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;See above paragraph b.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;How are the media and journalists portrayed? i.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Both journalists are relatively inexperienced, but both are extremely hungry to uncover the details of the story. Throughout the film they are portrayed as very ambitious, but new reporters. They are under constant pressure to double and triple check their sources. Most of the editors at the Post were opposed to Woodward and Bernstein covering such a great story and wanted to pass it off to more experienced reporters, but Editor Ben Bradlee gave them a chance. He had confidence in their perseverance and dedication to uncover the truth. In many scenes, Woodward and Bernstein are extremely frustrated and feel as though they are getting nowhere because no one will talk to them. 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The Paradoxical Nature of Belonging Depicted in Arthur...

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, we are positioned to see belonging as paradoxical, in that the positive, human quality of belonging inevitably carries with it the negative and dangerous corollary of exclusion. By belonging, we are automatically excluding others and excluding ourselves from other groups. The Crucible achieves this complex presentation of belonging through a variety of interconnected techniques which will be explored in this essay. These techniques may be categorized into four main groups: conflict, characterisation, heightened language and juxtaposition; conflict being the foremost. Firstly let us consider conflict. In each act of the play, we see the overpowering desire to belong leading to a climax of conflict†¦show more content†¦When John fails to recall the commandment against adultery, it is taken as evidence of satanic influence in the household and hence used to justify Elizabeth’s arrest. The society’s rules for belonging are strict – one mistake and you are excluded. By the third act we can see the potential evil of the people’s desire to belong to each other – the court immediately distrusts and excludes anyone accused of being evil. Perfectly innocent people are not given an adequate chance to defend themselves. The irrational fear and insecurity of something splitting up the community is splitting up the community. In Act Four, the conflict is surrounding John Proctor’s choice of whether or not to confess. If he confesses, he will be accepted back into the community; however he will be excluding the other accused people – condemning them to death. Instead, he chooses to ‘belong’ to himself and his own sense of conscience. In doing this, he must permanently exclude himself from the society and resign to his death. Throughout The Crucible, external and internal conflicts run in parallel. Though distinct, together they reinforce and nuance the theme that to belong is to exclude. The main characters who experience internal conflict are Reverend Hale, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Mary Warren. These characters are forced to be involved in the conflict of the town

Civil War in Sierra Leone free essay sample

According to Paul Collier and Marguerite Duponchel (2010), Sierra Leone was at the lowest level of the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) after the civil war came to an end. The aim of this paper is to draw attention on how this civil war was carried out, the efforts made to resolve the conflict as well as the effects the war brought on its economy and civilians. Therefore, section one of this paper will examine how the resources of Sierra Leone contributed to the civil war. Section two will demonstrate the demographics of the parties involved in the war. Section three will focus on the repercussions that the civil war brought on Sierra Leone and the final section will show the efforts made to bring peace into Sierra Leone. II. Section one: How have Sierra Leones natural resources contributed to the war? Lets begin with a background history of the political situations that mainly caused the civil war in Sierra Leone. In the years after the death of Sierra Leones first Prime Minister Sir Milton Margai in 1964, the politics of the country was progressively distinguished by several negative factors, such as corruption and mismanagement, hat led to the weakening of the civil society resulting in the frustration of a large amount of the youth who engrossed themselves in the unruly message of the RUF. This was because of leaders, such as Albert Mergai, who used Sierra Leone for their own selfish interests rather than in the peoples interest. Mergai, unlike his brother Milton Margai, used the country for his own personal gain by even using the military to curb multi-party elections which threatened to end his rule. When Siaka Stevens succeeded, there was continued destruction of state institutions. His rule was haracterized by corruption and pet projects financed by the treasury, which eventually became bankrupt, only benefiting those closest to him. After turning Sierra Leone into a one-party state, Stevens finally stepped down in 1985. Major General Joseph Momoh received the position of Prime Minister and followed in the footsteps of Stevens by welcoming corruption resulting in complete economic disintegration. The fact that the leaders used the abundant resources of Sierra Leone for their own self-aggrandizement made the country one of the poorest countries in the world by the time the civil war took place in 1991. (Gberie, 1998) The Sierra Leone war began on March 23 d 1991, when the student-led RUF began its revolt against the Serra Leone government, which commenced in Liberia and spread to the border regions of Kailahun and PiJehun. Several members of this insurgent group were Jobless dissatisfied young men who were motivated by Charles Taylors rebel National Patriotic Front invasion in Liberia. With the backing of Lybia and Charles Taylor, RUEs goal was to remove from power the government of the All Peoples Congress (APC) that was run by the presidencies of Siaka Stevens and Joseph Momoh which prolonged corruption, among other things. Humphreys and Weinstein, 2008) Several researches indicate that the presence of alluvial diamonds, found in regions such as Kono and Kenema, ushered in a civil war in many ways. Firstly, during the presidency of Stevens, the highly uneven benefits of the diamond mining frustrated everyday Sierra Leoneans. Profits from the National Diamond Mining Corporation (DIMCO) only enriched Stevens, government members, and influential business people that were close with Stevens. Subsequently, the government lost direct control of the diamond mining areas when DeBeers, one of the worlds leading iamond companies, ceased doing business with the Sierra Leonean government in 1984. As a result, there was illegal smuggling and trading of Sierra Leones diamonds with the proceeds going into the private investors pockets. Although the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) seized power in 1992, with the goal of diminishing corruption and restoring the revenues of the diamonds back to the state, the RUF acquired control of these abundant alluvial diamond areas to finance the purchase of weapons and ammunition obtained from countries like Liberia and Guinea. The imple availability of these diamonds was an incentive for violence. (Harsch, 2007) Although diamonds were a noteworthy commodity, other ways to fund the Sierra Leone Civil war were also present. A mixture of iron, bauxite, coffee and cocoa were in abundance in the country. There was gold mining in some areas of Sierra Leone as well as cash crop farming which were even more common through forced labor. Along with the high demand of diamonds, several of these minerals financed the fghting in Sierra Leone with exports revenues as high as USD 25 million and USD 125 million a year. Sierra Leoneans who Joined the rebel group RUF also ransacked cars, livestock and money which helped them in gaining more energy and force. (LuJala, 2005) Ill. Section two: The demographics of the parties involved in the war When the RUF was first founded by Foday Sankoh, it was popular among several Sierra Leoneans because of the resentment they felt towards the corrupt Freetown elites. It had a slogan that read No More Slaves, No more Masters. Power and Wealth to the People that pledged free education, health care and a fair sharing of the diamond proceeds to the people. It did not claim to fight for a particular ethnic group or district and did not support any Marxist, Socialist or Communist way of thinking. Its only goal was to remove the corrupt government from power although they provided little insight on what kind of government would follow it. (Denov, 2010) However, as time passed, the RUF developed a reputation for being a massively brutal rebel group during its ten year war. Although there is no precise data to verify the number of children that were involved in the war, it has been found that the RUF were the first to recruit children as soldiers. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone ( over 1 000 children ot botn sexes were involved in the fighting in one way or another. They were kidnapped in their villages and towns during attacks executed by the RUF. With their allies, the African Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), girls and boys were organized in separate units such as the Small Boys Units (SBUs) and Small Girls Unit (SGUs) which were commanded by several officers. The difference between how girls and boys were used is that, in addition to being used as fghters, girls were also sex slaves. Younger girls were primarily used or domestic labor, since they could not properly fight yet, and then became sex slaves as they grew older. The brutality of the war had frozen their senses, which were also damaged by drug abuse. In order to stay alive, they had to frequently become merciless. Most of these children had to either amputate or kill their loved ones to show that they were loyal. (Denov, 2010) An additional feature of the mobilization of children against their will was the re-enlistment of children after the disarmament process took place in 1998. Several children were re-enlisted back into the armed groups. This especially concerned children who did not have families to go back to even before the war started. Children who were let go from centers like the Interim Care Centre, which was a center created to help displaced children, had no other place to go after demobilization. They eventually got captured by the rebels and were forced to tell them if they had any brothers or sisters that ran away. cow, 2004) The Sierra Leone government also followed in enlisting children under Momohs rule. Momohs government encouraged chiefs and district leaders to arrange civilians into local unofficial groups to add soldiers into the Sierra Leone Army (SLA). When Momoh fled to Guinea, the NPRC government of Valentine Strasser was mainly responsible for the highest recruitment of children into the army to boost the amount of soldiers they previously had. There was an illicit enlistment of children while the income and benefits of the deceased soldiers was stolen by senior officers for whom this war had become a money-making business. Cow, 2004) When the war was over, many children did not return to their existing families. This was mainly because some of them were abducted so young that they did not even have any recollection of their families. Some were so afraid of being rejected by their families like others have been that they refused to go back home. Girls were especially afraid of rejection for being sex slaves to the rebels especially if they had babies from them. Rather than face shame, a number of these people ended up on the streets with significant health problems since most of them were addicted to the drugs that were initially forcibly administered by the rebels during the civil war. (Kamara, 2004) IV. Section three: Efforts made to stop the civil war In March 1995, a few years after the war started, a military group known as

Safe and Responsible Driving free essay sample

Safe and Responsible Driving Being a safe and responsible driver takes a combination of knowledge, skill and attitude. To begin, you must know the traffic laws and driving practices that help traffic move safely. Breaking these rules of the road is the major cause of collisions. Traffic laws are made by federal, provincial and municipal governments, and police from each level can enforce them. If you break a traffic law, you may be fined, sent to jail or lose your drivers licence. If you get caught driving while your licence is uspended for a Criminal Code conviction, your vehicle may even be impounded. But you need to do more than Just obey the rules. You must care about the safety of others on the road. Everyone is responsible for avoiding collisions. Even if someone else does something wrong, you may be found responsible for a collision if you could have done something to avoid it. We will write a custom essay sample on Safe and Responsible Driving or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Because drivers have to cooperate to keep traffic moving safely, you must also be predictable, doing what other people using the road xpect you to do. And you must be courteous. Courteous driving means giving other drivers space to change lanes, not cutting them off and signalling your turns and lane changes properly. You must be able to see dangerous situations before they happen and to respond quickly and effectively to prevent them. This is called defensive or strategic driving. There are collision avoidance courses available where you can practice these techniques. Defensive driving is based on three ideas: visibility, space nd communication. . Visibility is about seeing and being seen. You should always be aware of traffic in front, behind and beside you. Keep your eyes constantly moving, scanning the road ahead and to the side and checking your mirrors every five seconds or so. The farther ahead you look, the less likely you will be surprised, and you will have time to avoid any hazards. Make sure other drivers can see you by using your signal lights as required. 2. Managing the space around your vehicle lets ou see and be seen and gives you time and space to avoid a collision. Leave a cushion of space ahead, behind and to both sides. Because the greatest risk of a collision is in front of you, stay well back. 3. Communicate with other road users to make sure they see you and know what you are doing. Make eye contact with pedestrians, cyclists and drivers at intersections and signal whenever you want to slow down, stop, turn or change lanes. If you need to get another persons attention, use your horn.